First nibble of a bit of leaf worried off the margin of 2012 Yunnan Sourcing "Yi Wu Purple Tea" cake, enjoyed from my Petr Novak treebark pot, and for contrast, enjoyed from a delicate oilspot chawan by Rokuro Watanabe--a delicate sweetness in this young tea, notes that I love in the 2008 bamboo YiWu from Norbu and recognize here. Nothing rough or harsh in my dilute brewing thus far.

A Tea Urchin pairing today. In the morning:Luo Shui Dong Spring 1) Spicy, umami. 2) Buttery coating on the tongue, a nice bitterness, very pleasant, although short-lived base. Leaves the tongue wet and tasting pleasant bitterness. Very slight astringency. 3) More of the same. 4) More. Nice. Tongue still coated. 5) one minute. Oooh, yeah. The first little cup was creamy, totally different (but not the rest). I suspect the sweetness talked about is in the base more than on the tongue. 6) 1:15 Giving up the ghost. 7,8) Long infusions, nice to the end. In the afternoon:Luo Shui Dong Autumn 1) Very interesting. At first, I was disappointed that the vegetal bitterness and spicyness of Spring wasn’t there, but there was vanilla or something in the base that’s very nice. The buttery tongue coating is back. 2) Accidentally overbrewed, for a minute, but the result was good. It’s bringing up olfactory memories of pleasant things I can’t place. 3) Oops, infused for a full minute AGAIN, and this time it was too much, the bitterness on the front of the tongue overcoming the gentler notes. 4) 30s, but it’s too late. Bitter now. Still pleasant enough to drink, but this tea reviewer needs to pay better attention. 5) 15s Too weak now but still giving that nice base with an OK bitterness around the edge of the front of the tongue. The bit at the bottom of the chahai is more bitter. 6) Just bitter now, the pleasant base is almost gone. 7) blech, poured it out. In conclusion, I like both of these. They are both interesting and different from each other and good value. I, on the other hand, need a tuneup. Out with the wife yesterday I was a grumpy driver and my gongfu was anything but skillful this afternoon. This is how I get when I miss a few days of meditation. I'm going to go remedy that right now. The producers work very hard with great skill to produce these teas for me and that deserves my best effort in brewing them.

So I'm currently in the very early stages of familiarizing myself with raw puer. I just received a bunch of samples in the last few days, from DTH and Chawang, and once next month's salary (read: student loan) enters my account I'll be buying some samples from other sites as well (pu-erh.sk, TeaUrchin, perhaps white2tea and and some others depending on how much I feel like spending). In other words, sheng-tuition is being paid, thank god there is no tuition fee at the universities in this country.

Today I've tried what might be the first tea I've really liked (of these samples, that is), a 2002 Bulangshan from Chawang.. Not really any noticable qi, but a very well-rounded taste and good, full feeling in the mouth. It would probably have been the first cake I bought based on a sample, but upon discovering that it's $150 a cake I think I'll pass.

Balthazar wrote: but upon discovering that it's $150 a cake I think I'll pass.

That's getting close to the least you can spend on a good cake now a days, especially considering it's age. It's a shame but if you want to buy some good Sheng puerh you're most likely looking at triple digit prices

And that's just for starters. Tony Chen (boss of Sanhetang) was just complaining today of spending $75000 (and showing a picture of the money-filled box) cash for one of those "state forest" yiwu, "for just a little tea". I started with a 100 kilos, and tweaked it to about 25-50 kilos of ultimate Yiwu tea. Probably something like $1.5k to $3k/kilo of finished maocha.

Only ole moneybags ever gets to drink THAT tea.

Anyways, paying lots of money is about tea you want to *keep* and hedge against future lack of access. If you just want tea to drink, then spending enough to get marginally real stuff isn't as important.

Balthazar wrote:So I'm currently in the very early stages of familiarizing myself with raw puer. I just received a bunch of samples in the last few days, from DTH and Chawang, and once next month's salary (read: student loan) enters my account I'll be buying some samples from other sites as well (pu-erh.sk, TeaUrchin, perhaps white2tea and and some others depending on how much I feel like spending). In other words, sheng-tuition is being paid, thank god there is no tuition fee at the universities in this country.

Today I've tried what might be the first tea I've really liked (of these samples, that is), a 2002 Bulangshan from Chawang.. Not really any noticable qi, but a very well-rounded taste and good, full feeling in the mouth. It would probably have been the first cake I bought based on a sample, but upon discovering that it's $150 a cake I think I'll pass.

Balthazar wrote:So I'm currently in the very early stages of familiarizing myself with raw puer. I just received a bunch of samples in the last few days, from DTH and Chawang, and once next month's salary (read: student loan) enters my account I'll be buying some samples from other sites as well (pu-erh.sk, TeaUrchin, perhaps white2tea and and some others depending on how much I feel like spending). In other words, sheng-tuition is being paid, thank god there is no tuition fee at the universities in this country.

Today I've tried what might be the first tea I've really liked (of these samples, that is), a 2002 Bulangshan from Chawang.. Not really any noticable qi, but a very well-rounded taste and good, full feeling in the mouth. It would probably have been the first cake I bought based on a sample, but upon discovering that it's $150 a cake I think I'll pass.

teaurchin very good people. white2tea in the same boat.

Sure there are some quite good cakes at white2tea, although it's mainly good factory tea, but even at tea urchin the very good cakes are in the 100-300 dollar range

Exempt wrote:Not that I'm complaining or speaking down as I own quite a few tea urchin cakes, I just wish I was around for the days when great puerh could be had for under 100 dollars. Oh well

Well, my idea of "great" may be different from yours, but I think it still can. Two examples:

YS 2013 Nan Po Zhai - This was well liked in a recent tasting by at least most people who tried it. I've tried the 2012 myself, and although it wasn't really my cuppa, I definitely thought it was great stuff.

2002 Tai Lian Memorial Expo - I think Shah might like this one?

Of course, these are close to the 100 dollar line, and are probably not "best."

Also, as a side-note, I think the 2004 Jianshen tuo from white2tea might qualify as "great." I really need to give it another session - it definitely seemed to have some substance. Has anyone else tried this?

Balthazar wrote: but upon discovering that it's $150 a cake I think I'll pass.

That's getting close to the least you can spend on a good cake now a days, especially considering it's age. It's a shame but if you want to buy some good Sheng puerh you're most likely looking at triple digit prices

I'm aware that these days it's very hard to find some good sheng at lower prices (or even at that price). However, since I've just started sampling (I've had maybe half a dozen samples the last few days) and have so much more to try, I think it would be foolish to shell out that kind of money so early. Better sample a bit more extensively first and then, knowing more about what I really like, I'll feel better making purchases at those prices.

Having read other reflect on their experiences as newcomers I know it's tempting to invest as soon as you find something you like, and I'm trying to avoid doing that until I have more taste experience. For those of you who have been drinking sheng for years I guess it's easier to know that what tastes good today will taste just as good tomorrow.

Spent some time to evaluate one of my fave 2005 wild spring DXS. The tea is mellowing and the thick body is showing up and dominating the brew. Immense sweetness and full bodied. I stopped buying DXS after 2007 as the quality depreciate a lot since then. Those earlier wild spring prior that is full of gusto.

Teaism wrote:Spent some time to evaluate one of my fave 2005 wild spring DXS. The tea is mellowing and the thick body is showing up and dominating the brew. Immense sweetness and full bodied. I stopped buying DXS after 2007 as the quality depreciate a lot since then. Those earlier wild spring prior that is full of gusto.

Teaism wrote:Spent some time to evaluate one of my fave 2005 wild spring DXS. The tea is mellowing and the thick body is showing up and dominating the brew. Immense sweetness and full bodied. I stopped buying DXS after 2007 as the quality depreciate a lot since then. Those earlier wild spring prior that is full of gusto.

Teaism wrote:Spent some time to evaluate one of my fave 2005 wild spring DXS. The tea is mellowing and the thick body is showing up and dominating the brew. Immense sweetness and full bodied. I stopped buying DXS after 2007 as the quality depreciate a lot since then. Those earlier wild spring prior that is full of gusto.

Cheers!

瑞荣号？

I love that cake too, the scent of the leaves alone is intoxicating. I bought it right after trying some, really appreciate the complex fragrance and character. It is not something that most people would go for typically but it is irresistible to me.